Woman accuses St. Cloud library of discrimination

Kim Pettman, of Sartell, sits in the Mississippi Room of the St. Cloud Public Library on Thursday and talks about the challenges she faces as a person of larger size. She said she believes she received discriminatory treatment at the library.(Photo: Frank Lee, fclee@stcloudtimes.com)

Kim Pettman went to the St. Cloud Public Library on Thursday for a meeting about nonprofit organizations, but she believes she was met with discriminatory treatment.

The 50-year-old from Sartell said she was not allowed to use a meeting room at the library.

She says she believes the library misunderstands the Americans with Disabilities Act and that public seating should be made available for all.

She did not need a personal assistance device from the library or an assistant, she says.

Pettman says she has a chronic disorder called lipoedema. The disorder causes fatty tissue to accumulate and can cause pain and bruising.

At least one of the library meeting rooms has seating that would work for Pettman, but the meeting she wanted to attend was in a different room.

"I do public policy awareness about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I have a disability, and in my struggles in trying to get access to this community, that is how I kind of got involved in this," said Pettman, who has a master's degree in library science.

Pettman said she was denied access to the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits meeting in the Array Community Room on the first floor.

"Most people when they see a fat person, they think it's their fault ... but this is not caused by overeating; it's caused by stem cells that have gone rogue," said Pettman, who moves with the assistance of a rolling walker.

Library's position

Julie Henne is the associate director of public relations for the Great River Regional Library system, and Sunny Hesse is the associate director of human resources; they declined to go into detail about Pettman's case.

"Right now, we're not going to be responding because there is an active investigation going on, so we really don't have a comment at this time," Henne said with Hesse by her side in the lobby of the library.

Hesse said, "She's filed an Office for Civil Rights complaint, which is currently under investigation." Pettman said the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights handles those complaints.

Pettman was diagnosed in 2011 with lipoedema and has lived with the condition since she was 11, she said as she sat on a metal bench in the library's lobby, one of the few furnishings there that can dependably support her weight.

"The nickname for it is 'painful fat syndrome,' " she said. "It's usually from the waist down in women, and weight-loss surgery does not work, diets don't work; the goal is to manage the condition and not make it worse."

Pettman is starting a nonprofit and was attempting to attend the meeting at the library to network with other professionals, such as Emily Steinmetz, Central Minnesota regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

"The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits believes that inclusion and access to community events is critical," Steinmetz said in a statement.

"We encourage the St. Cloud Public Library to continue to work toward successfully accommodating community members in its space, including our MCN networking lunches."

ADA concerns

Pettman is 41 inches wide and requires something to sit on that is "wide, soft and sturdy ... for a bigger person," she said; those kinds of chairs were not available in the Array Community Room.

"I cannot obviously use those chairs because if I sit in the wrong thing, it's painful and dangerous," said Pettman, who said she was not allowed access to the room in which the meeting took place.

Pettman said she has reached out to a variety of library officials in the past about ADA compliance and was told the Mississippi Room, which is adjacent to the Array Community Room, was the only room she could use.

"This is just a small sample of what I go through — and other overweight people go through ... but I'm trying to stick up for myself and others," she said Thursday.

"I did not come here today to try and make a big deal about this. I was just trying to attend a professional networking opportunity. ... The main thing is I want to participate like everyone else."

Pettman said she has recently retained an attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center, which provides free legal assistance to people with disabilities.

"I'm not asking for an ADA accommodation because I'm trying to be mean or bossy," she said. "When I went to library school, when I got my master's ... the very first thing we were ever taught was libraries were for all people."